After the dust settled, the first time Chen Chen ever got angry with Xu Nian was because of something Xu Nian had kept hidden from him afterward.
By that time, Chen Hui’s attitude toward the two of them had already softened, and Wang Yulin seemed to have been talked through by Li Xin, treating Chen Chen even better, though she would still scold Xu Nian every now and then.
Right after finishing work that day, Xu Nian came over to talk to Chen Chen about something.
He said he had bought a house in town.
For a long while, Chen Chen did not react, assuming Xu Nian was joking, until he saw the serious look in Xu Nian’s eyes and finally understood what was happening.
“Why didn’t you discuss this with me?”
Actually, Chen Chen felt it was unnecessary; he did not want Xu Nian spending money like that, especially since Xu Nian still had to take care of Auntie Wang in the future.
“I felt it was necessary, so I didn’t discuss it with you.” Sensing Chen Chen’s reluctance, Xu Nian came over to coax him. “Don’t be mad. I want us to have a home of our own right here.”
How could Chen Chen stay angry after that? His eyes grew hot and stinging once more as he looked at Xu Nian, unable to say a word.
In the end, he still scolded Xu Nian, telling him never to do such a thing again. Xu Nian agreed readily to everything, and only then did Chen Chen let him off the hook.
However, Chen Chen did not go over to Xu Nian’s house for dinner that evening.
As a result, in the middle of the night, Xu Nian climbed over through the window, his face marked with a fresh bruise.
Startled, Chen Chen jumped. “Brother? What happened to your face?”
Xu Nian pressed his lips together and lowered his head, hissing, “Ouch, it hurts.”
It was impossible to tell whether he was actually in pain or just faking it.
Still deeply concerned, Chen Chen stepped closer to check his face, gently pulling Xu Nian’s hand away. “Let me see.”
To his surprise, the man was still smiling.
Chen Chen pinched his cheek. “What on earth happened?”
Only then did Xu Nian stop, wrapping his arms around Chen Chen’s waist and pulling him tight against his chest. “I told my mom that I made you angry and you wouldn’t come over for dinner, so she beat me up.”
Speechless, Chen Chen was left completely speechless.
He now realized that Xu Nian had two entirely different faces. In front of outsiders, he remained that cold, aloof figure, looking effortlessly cool and unapproachable. But in front of him? Xu Nian was growing increasingly shameless, always teasing him.
Now it was Chen Chen’s turn to coax him. “I am not mad. I just…”
Xu Nian tucked him straight into the bed. “I know.” With that, he began raining kisses down on him, his hands refusing to stay still.
Not wanting to give in, Chen Chen tried to talk some sense into him between kisses. “I am still hurting!”
Xu Nian paused immediately, his hand pressing firmly against Chen Chen’s lower back. “Shall I give you a massage?”
He always claimed he would just massage him, but every single time, he would end up acting shamelessly all over again. Though reluctant, Chen Chen found himself pinned down with no room to move as Xu Nian genuinely began to gently massage the area.
Chen Chen felt a warm tingling sensation ripple all the way from his tailbone straight to his heart, until he finally could not help leaning up to kiss Xu Nian, whispering something softly in his ear. Without hesitation, Xu Nian leaned down to pin him beneath his weight, running wild.
In the end, this episode concluded with Chen Chen’s compromise, and from time to time, Xu Nian would take him to stay at that small house for a few days. Most of the time they did not do much of anything, simply spending their days idling about, kissing in the room, or watching film discs.
Though watching those discs inevitably led to other activities, Chen Chen found himself quite willing to indulge.
It was nothing more than waking up a little sore the next day anyway.
Speaking of film discs, that naturally brought Li Xin to mind.
Ever since they watched that movie, Li Xin had actually mailed a few more discs over. Out of pure curiosity, Chen Chen watched them, only to find himself met with more unspeakable, intimate scenes.
Xu Nian’s face darkened further, and he immediately warned Li Xin never to pull such a stunt again. Yet despite those words, that very night, Xu Nian’s actions betrayed a rather eager, eager-to-try attitude.
Angry enough to bite him, Chen Chen glared at him.
The next day by the restaurant’s landline phone, a call came through from Li Xin, who eagerly asked if the two of them had enjoyed the films.
“How was it? Were the movies good? I thought they were quite nice.”
Chen Chen nearly spat out his water. “Cough, cough. They are… they are all right, I suppose.” He finished and cast a sidelong glance at Xu Nian.
Xu Nian, who had been about to light a cigarette, raised an eyebrow at those words.
Just as Chen Chen was about to continue speaking, Xu Nian snatched the receiver away. “That is enough. Do not mail any more things over here.”
With that, he hung up the phone.
Turning back to Chen Chen, Xu Nian remarked, “If you like movies like that, shall your brother film one with you?”
His tone did not sound like he was joking at all.
Crying without tears, Chen Chen wondered silently who was going to speak up for him!
Later on, the restaurant’s business grew more and more prosperous, prompting Xu Nian to hire a few extra hands. With Chen Chen’s workload lightening up a bit, he decided to learn a craft at a local handicraft shop, figuring that mastering any useful skill would be for the best.
The shop owner agreed to let him observe, and Chen Chen approached the endeavor with utter seriousness, even borrowing books to study.
Every single night in bed, he would read his books, switching titles from time to time.
Xu Nian did not say much at first, until he eventually began making trouble.
He would call out Chen Chen’s name every so often, demanding this and that, and constantly asking what the books were about. It took Chen Chen a little while to realize that Xu Nian was dissatisfied.
So he pounced on Xu Nian, pinning him to the bed and pinching his cheeks. “Are you jealous? Were you doing that on purpose?”
Xu Nian refused to admit it, though in the end, he never stopped Chen Chen from pursuing self-improvement.
Days passed by one after another, and Chen Chen lived a fulfilling and joyful life. The main characters of the original story rarely appeared anymore, and Chen Chen no longer paid them much mind.
Later on, however, he heard that those two protagonists had weathered many hardships because their love was not accepted by society, but they had ultimately achieved a happy ending.
Chen Chen felt a wave of bittersweet emotion, deeply grateful that both he and Xu Nian had managed to stand the test of time.
Once that chapter had passed, Chen Chen took it upon himself to send them his blessings, meeting Cao Ying and Xu Heyun in person. They were still deeply in love, and nothing could be better than that.
This time around, Chen Chen proudly introduced Xu Nian. While Xu Nian usually wore a blank expression, at that very moment his features softened, touched with a faint trace of a smile.
Even so, Chen Chen could still tell that Xu Nian was secretly jealous by nightfall, and the consequences were quite evident.
Unable to take it anymore, Chen Chen scolded him for being a walking vinegar jar.
Xu Nian simply pretended not to hear.
That autumn brought a wonderful surprise for Chen Chen: Brother Wang Qi got engaged.
He had a girlfriend prior to that whom Xu Nian had met, but Chen Chen had missed that occasion.
So when they met her at the shop again, Chen Chen felt exceptionally happy.
The young woman was gentle and magnanimous, looking a year or two older than Wang Qi. As she stood in the room chatting with everyone, Chen Chen even found himself subconsciously wondering how Brother Wang Qi had managed to trick someone like her into marrying him.
“You must be Xiao Jia! You really are so handsome!” The young woman beamed when she saw Chen Chen. “And your skin is so nice, too.”
Flustered by the praise, Chen Chen smiled and scratched the back of his head.
That night, Xu Nian seemed to be pushing himself with extra intensity, driving Chen Chen to tears more than once.
He heard Xu Nian murmuring right beside his ear, “So pale…”
Then calling out to him as “Baby” and “Xiao Jia,” cycling through every endearment imaginable, before finally whispering, “Mine…”
Convinced that Xu Nian was nothing short of a giant, incurable vinegar jar, Chen Chen gave up all hope.
After finishing up that night, Xu Nian did not go to sleep right away, instead holding Chen Chen close as they talked. Their conversation naturally drifted back to how things had started between them.
“Brother, why do you like me so much?” Chen Chen rarely asked such questions, but for some reason, he felt compelled to ask at that exact moment.
His curiosity was burning.
Xu Nian initially answered with “There is no why,” but under Chen Chen’s relentless pestering, he finally admitted, “You are the color in my world.”
When pressed for anything further, he clammed up completely.
“I love you.” Those words were murmured softly against Chen Chen’s ear just before they fell asleep.
Chen Chen answered right back, “I love you too.”
Another summer rolled around when Wang Qi got married, inviting both Chen Chen and Xu Nian to attend together.
As it turned out, in his own original world, Chen Chen had never attended a single wedding; he only found out about his own mother’s remarriage long after the fact.
Yet witnessing a pair of people who truly loved each other tie the knot here probably helped heal those lingering regrets within him.
The wedding was held at a large hotel. Driving them there, Xu Nian pulled up to the entrance where they immediately spotted a glowing, radiant Wang Qi.
“Boss, you two made it!” Wang Qi came out to greet them, his eyes darting back and forth between Chen Chen and Xu Nian as his smile stretched from ear to ear.
A shiver ran down Chen Chen’s spine. Surely Brother Wang Qi didn’t know about their relationship, did he?
“Come on inside and grab a seat, share in some of the good fortune.”
“Though… well, even though you guys might not be able to have a wedding yourselves, hey! You can still have just as much happiness.”
Wang Qi spoke with absolute sincerity.
Chen Chen, however, was dumbfounded. Brother Wang Qi actually knew?! Judging by how completely unfazed Xu Nian looked, did that mean he was the only one kept in the dark?
With an air of total nonchalance, Xu Nian took the hand of the dazed Chen Chen and led him inside.
Having no other choice, Chen Chen obediently followed.
The wedding atmosphere was wonderful. Watching the bride shed tears of joy, Chen Chen felt a deep sense of happiness, mingled with a faint, instinctive anxiety—the kind born from finally possessing true happiness and instinctively fearing its loss.
He turned his head to look at Xu Nian. Though Xu Nian was looking straight ahead, his hand reached out with unerring precision to catch Chen Chen’s hand.
Intertwining their fingers together securely.
What surprised Chen Chen the most during the wedding was that Xu Nian actually got up on stage to sing a song.
Chen Chen did not know the title of the song, but as Xu Nian sang up on stage, the surrounding commotion—the sound of children stepping on balloons, the clatter of bowls and chopsticks—all faded away into nothingness.
Only the afternoon sunlight streaming in from outside remained, bathing Xu Nian and his surroundings in his favorite hues.
As the melodic vocals drifted gently into his ears, Xu Nian used the lyrics to tell him, “I love you…”
“I will love you forever…”
Once the wedding concluded that day, Xu Nian took Chen Chen out for a drive. They sat together inside the car, watching the evening sunset sink inch by inch until it finally vanished beneath the horizon.
It felt like a journey that, as long as Xu Nian remained by his side, would never truly have an end.
“Xiao Jia.”
“Hmm?”
“I love you.”
Smiling brightly, Chen Chen answered, “I love you too.”
Later that day on the road, Chen Chen and Xu Nian stepped out of the car to take a walk together. On a sudden whim, Chen Chen borrowed a camera.
As Xu Nian walked ahead of him with his head slightly lowered, Chen Chen snapped sneaky photos from behind. Catching him in the act, Xu Nian demanded to see, capturing Chen Chen’s fidgeting hands and checking out his own reflection through the camera lens.
There were pictures of him smiling, and pictures of him walking with his head down.
Seeing his own expression felt somewhat unfamiliar to Xu Nian; he had never realized his own demeanor could look so tender. A vast swath of sunlight spilled across the road, and catching a fraction of it, they rushed to preserve the moment with the camera.
Before finally leaving, with Xu Nian walking ahead once more, Chen Chen called out his name from behind.
The exact moment Xu Nian turned his head back was captured and frozen inside the camera frame framed by Chen Chen’s fingers.
Thinking back to that dream once again, Chen Chen looked at the figure ahead of him and decided to give this wonderful scene a name.
The sunlight was bright enough to make one squint, but Chen Chen knew for certain that Xu Nian was looking right at him and smiling, shining brighter than anything else in the world.
Let us simply call it “Kissing the Sunlight,” then.